Reimagining Faith
In-between spaces and itty-bitty joys
Hello, friends!
Welcome to The Gathering Place. There are so many new faces around here, and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined us! If you want to learn more about me and my “why,” just hop on over to my “About” page. You can also find my past newsletters here.
I think today’s Wordle was a message from On High, telling me to get to work. (Don’t ask me why I used the word “BRINK.” I do know how to play this game. 🙄)
It’s Monday morning, and this newsletter will be reaching your inbox on Tuesday. So don’t worry, I didn’t spoil the word for you today. Now I have to know:
Ok. Now that we’ve gotten that important piece out of the way: Gather ‘round, and let’s talk about Reimagining Faith.
It hit me this week that it’s been over three years since I’ve regularly attended my local church, something that was such a huge part of my life prior to Covid. And now I stand in the in-between, the space between the before and after. Many people would call this “the wilderness,” a time and a place where we wait for what is yet to come. In the scriptures, the wilderness is a place of preparation. It’s where people learn to turn their ear toward God, listening for where God will lead them next. And I know people can remain here for a long time.
These days, there’s a whole lot of talk about the wilderness for those of us who are reimagining faith. I’ve transformed out of some old ways, and I’m trying on some new ways, but nothing has made me feel like I’ve arrived in the promised land. I’m reminded that Moses never made it there either. Maybe I’ll never find a place that feels exactly like home. Maybe instead we help carve a path for others.
I think deconstruction1 has brought a lot of people closer to Jesus. Because when your community is stripped away, who else can we depend on but the One who is constant? To be honest, I’m getting pretty tired of all this wilderness talk. How do we begin to put things back together? What do we do with this loneliness, this lack of community that seems so prevalent? Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy or prescriptive answer.
God’s love is infinite. Wide, and long, and high, and deep. I’ve experienced Immanuel, “God with us,” and I’ve known El Roi, “the God who sees me.” So most days, I believe this is true. But beyond that, I don’t really know what God is up to as He sifts the Church.
I do know that church is not a building. It is the community of believers; we are God’s heart walking around in the world. And if the meeting space, the budget, the staff, and the programs all ceased to be, the church would still stand. We know that. We don’t have to protect structures, or specific doctrine, or the policies we’ve created. God never asked us to. He only asked us to follow Him.
So I cling to a stubborn hope, out here in the wilderness. I am the Church, and if you follow Christ, you are too. And I wait in the in-between for God to guide us into a new reimagining. Will it be a local church as we know it? A home church, perhaps? Would it be some other kind of faith community? Beers, Bibles and Burgers at a local pub? Will it be something else? Is my own reimagining too small for God? (I suspect it is.)
Still, so many more questions than answers.
So I wait. With persistent faith and hopeful expectation, I will wait.
***
Help me reimagine. How do you see God working in your midst? What are your hopes for the Church - not just the local church, but the larger body of believers?
New subscribers are receiving a free resource I created: 9 Spiritual Practices for a Reconstructing Faith. I want to make it available to the rest of my subscribers, too. Soon you’ll be receiving a separate email from me with a link to that resource. It includes some practices that have been good companions for me on my journey toward a deeper, more embodied faith. I hope they will be helpful for you, too. And if you haven’t yet subscribed, now would be a great time to do that! 😊
Itty-bitty Joys
I’ve tried to embrace the habit of noticing the goodness around me - finding a few things each day that bring me just a little bit of joy. Sometimes this practice alone helps me keep my head above water. Life can be beautiful and messy, can’t it? Here are a few of my itty-bitty joys:
🍅 Juicy heirloom tomatoes freshly picked from the garden - I’ve been growing and nurturing these babies since January, and they’re finally here! It kind of feels like a birth! Last night, I served a simple heirloom tomato sauce over pasta, and it was #chefskiss. 💋
🕯️Amber & Moss soy candle by P.F. Candle Co.
I’m more of an essential oils girl, mostly because I like to experiment with different scent combinations. But this candle caught my attention in a local floral shop, and now I’m obsessed. I spent a stupid amount of money on it, so this is an “itty bitty joy” that I only light when I’m writing. It’s been a helpful, grounding practice for me.
🌸 Surprise Morning Glories in a neglected garden bed. A reminder that there’s beauty in the untamed wilderness.
Tell me, what are some of your itty-bitty joys?
I stumbled across this Celtic Blessing, and I thought it would be a good way to close out this newsletter. An itty-bitty sprinkle of hope and delight thrown your way. ✨
May the strength of the wind
and the light of the sun,
The softness of the rain
and the mystery of the moon,
Reach you and fill you.
May beauty delight you
and happiness uplift you,
May wonder fulfill you
and love surround you.
May your step be steady
and your arm be strong,
May your heart be peaceful
and your word be true.
May you seek to learn,
may you learn to live,
May you live to love,
and may you love – always.
Amen.
As always, thanks for spending a few minutes of your time here with me. I don’t take it for granted. Until next time friends…
xo, Jana
And in case you missed these recent posts:
I want to be clear about what deconstruction is and is not. It’s important to know that deconstruction does not always lead to deconversion. It is a reexamining of beliefs once held, something we all should be doing at one time or another. For many of us, deconstruction does not mean losing our faith altogether. On the contrary, it can invite us into a deeper, more embodied faith.
That morning glory! In a spiritual direction session last week a woman I was with wrote a poem about an unexpected morning glory that came to her garden, it was beautiful. Thank you for your words and another itty bitty joy to add to my list with another morning glory sighting! 🪻
God has been providing me with great parking spaces when I have gone into Hartford for both Monday Night Jazz in Bushnell Park and when I go to Black Eyed Sally’s. Last week I didn’t even have to parallel park, there were three spaces all in a row for me to pull into!